SALEM — The board of education approved another phase of the district’s new $57 million K-8 school building project in its May meeting.

The board voted unanimously to approve the project’s design development document phase, which ensures that the project’s plans are still in line with the project budget. Treasurer Mike Douglas said that once the next step of the design phase is complete, the district should be able to begin sharing renderings of the new school.

“With the design development phase approved tonight, we’re one step closer to the final design of the building. Hopefully we’ll be completed with the next phase in the next month or so. We’ll start to go out to bid for some early site work which is just dirt removal around the property and some foundation work,” said Douglas. “We’re planning to be able present everything to the staff and the community on what the final rendering of the building looks like at the beginning of the school year.”

Douglas also said that “within the next week” the district would be working on interior details like room layouts and color schemes, and some landscaping details.

The board also approved the hire of Andrew Maughan as an athletic trainer for the district for the 2025-2026 school year. Douglas said that currently the district contracts this service for athletic events on an individual basis but with the completion of the wellness center, Maughan will be present full time for both the center and athletic events. Douglas also noted that last year there were situations where the district would have been better served by a full-time trainer.

“This is something our athletic director was very concerned about. Especially with some sports like football and soccer having concussions, we’ll have someone on staff at all times. We did have some incidents last year where we didn’t have a trainer quite available at the time and it would have been really beneficial to have somebody there to help in those situations,” said Douglas.

The board also approved several personnel and administrative items.

Personnel items approved included: the resignation of second grade teacher Renee Dreger; the resignation of bus duty aide attendant Samantha Smith; the hire of art teacher Abbey West; maternity leave for intervention specialist Logan Chestnut starting effective May 19 through the start of the 2025-2026 school year; the appointment of Tim Taafe, Ron Stratton, and Vince Nittolli as Summer School instructors; the resignation of Bethany Glasser; the retirements of Ronald Johnson, Kathleen Piero, and Nicole Rothbauer; Junior High orientation camp workers; and district track and field meet tournament workers.

Administrative items approved included: a service agreement with LearnWell Student Services; the list of 2025 Salem High School graduates; a contract agreement with PsyCare Inc. effective July 1 through June 30, 2026; the Salem Public Library tax budget request for 2026; an addendum to the memorandum of understanding between the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center and the board of education regarding the transition of Hannah E. Mullins School of Practical Nursing; the seamless summer option for 2025; the high school credit recovery program from June 2, through June 13; the education alternative services agreement; the education alternatives student transportation agreement; the May 2025 five-year forecast; a service agreement between the ESC Governing Board and Salem City School District for the 2025-2026 school year beginning on July 1, 2025, and ending on June 30, 2026; and a memorandum of understanding between the board of education and the Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency.

The meeting concluded with an executive session for the discussion of personnel matters with no action to follow.

The board of education will meet next 7 p.m. June 23.